Charles skaiee



C. SKAIFE. APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING ANNOUNCEMENTS, ADVERTISEMENTS, 0R ,THE UKE.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 4. T919.

Patented May 20, 1919.

CHARLES SKAIFE, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.A

APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING ANNOUNCEMENTS, ADVERTISEMENTS, OR THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2o, 1919.

Application filed January 4, 1919. v Serial No. 269,676.

T 0 all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES SKAirn, subject of Jthe King of Great Britain, residing at Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster and Kingdom of England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Apparatus for Displaying Announcements, Advertisements, or the like, of which the following is a specication. n

This invention lhas reference to advertising signs, display tablets, and the like of the type in which a back ground or screen of slats or strips, is adapted to detachably support letters, numerals, symbols or other de vices hereafter termed display elements for brevity, in such a way that they can be easily changed, interchanged, rearranged or substituted wholly or in partby otherlett'ers or devices to effect a change in or variation of the wording or other matter displayed, and the object of the invention is to obtain improved eects with such apparatus, particularly with regard to clearness and boldness of display, and with regard to throwing up the outline of the letters or symbols with greater eifect and making them more conn spicuous.

The invention will be understood from the following description reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a front yview of my apparatus for displaying announcements:

- Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof1 in line A B of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 and Fig. 3 show two views as seen at right angles to each other, of the pins.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of one ofthe elements showing the projecting lip which in this case takes the form of a pin so mounted as to turn and Fig. 5 an edge view.

Referring to these drawings, A is the frame of wood or other suitable material, B the plurality of slats or strips of wood, cardboard, metal, glass or other suitable material which are inserted into the frame so as to be superimposed edge to edge one above the other and collectively form a plane surface, and C the letters or other elements which may be stamped out of sheet metal, cardboard paper or any other suitable material. These letters have as usual a laterally projecting lip D at the rear which is nipped between the adjacent edges of the slats B so that the letters are held securely in position on the surface ofthe screen but can be changed, interchanged, rearranged or substituted to eifect a change in or variation of the matter displayed.

The slats or strips have colored faces, or are of colored material some of them being of one color and some of other colors, so that a very large variety of dierent cO-lor combinations can be produced by interchanging the slats or pieces thus producing a variety of diiferent effects. The letters or other elements are of a color to contrast with the slats. This combination of dierent colored slats forming a backing and a plurality of letters of' a color contrasting therewith in coperative juxtaposition, produces a clearness and boldness of display in the advertisement or announcement, and by interchanging the colored slats a change in the gleneral effects can be produced from day to In the drawing the colors of the slats or strips are indicated by the mode adopted by the heraldic convention in which green is denoted by diagonal lines from left to right, brown by lines crossing each other, purple by diagonal lines from right to left, yellow or gold by a dotted ground, blue by horizontal lines, red by vertical lines and white by a plain ground.

rlhe pins F may be socketed into members attached to the display elements, and this arrangement permits of the elements C being built up upon the plane surface of the screen, in curved lines or straight lines as may be desired. To build them up in curved lines some of the pins F are fixed above or below others, the angle at which the sockets can be turned into allowing for this. The sock-et end F1 of the pins can be split and flared outward a little.

These colored slats B may be inserted into the frame A at the rear and rest in juxtaposition on edge and prevented from falling out by a backing or they may be inserted endwise into the frame A through an aperture in the side edge thereof so that they rest one upon the other, while permitting them to be easily drawn out, and replaced in a different order so as to vary the color effect.

The edges of the slats B are made of cork,

india rubber or other suitable material, ca-

pable of being readily pierced or impaled. In this case the letters or other elements are provided with spikes which can be driven by pressure into the cork .or other elastic material, so that the said elements are securely fastened in position on the screen, while to separate the letters from the screen, allfthat is necessary is to pull them forcibly so as to detach the same. Either mode of attachment admits of all kinds of announcements being made, and there is no danger of the elements fallin@ off the screen accidentally or getting displaced. A convenient plan is to make the rubber or other soft material of channel section to receive a slat, the face of which lies flush with the side ribs of the channel.

A great variety of announcements and even pictures can be built up from these let ters or elements, which together with the adjustability or interchangeability of the colored slats, enables a variety of different color e'ects to be produced, thus allowing for the display of much ingenuity and originality. For outdoor use the letters and screens may be protected from dust and rain by an outer casing comprising a` glass pane. If both sides of the screen are visible, opposite faces of the slats are colored, and the letters or elements are attached to both faces of the screen. rIhe elements may be formed of any suitable shape so as to permit of their being built up into a picture.

Instead of slats of wood, metal, etc., strips of colored glass may be used, which, in addition to` forming a background to the letters or other elements by day, will form a transparency by night, artificial light behind outlining the elements on the screen of colored letters by lips between the opposing edges of slats mounted in a frame, but my invention differs essentially from such known devices by the use of slats having pierceable edges, some of which slats are of one color and others of another color so that the cooperative juxtaposition of the letters or other elements and the variously colored slats produces clearness and boldness of display, and a means of changing the general effect of an advertisement from day to day.

I declare that what I claim is Apparatus for advertising and display purposes comprising in combination a frame, a plurality of interchangeable slats some of which are of one color and others of different colors so mounted in the frame as to collectively form an interchangeable background of variegated colors, such slats having pierceable edges, and display elements having spikes at the back thereof which can be impaled into the said pierceable edges of the slats so as to hold them in position.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 14th day of December. 1918, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES SKAIFE. lNitnesses:

JOSEPH FLACK, JOHN MoLAoHLAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

